You may have seen this release yesterday from the Episcopal Church’s Office of Public Affairs:

On Monday, March 25 at 10:30 am Eastern, more than 20 Episcopal bishops from throughout the church will lead hundreds of clergy and lay people in praying the Stations of the Cross in Washington, DC, as they process along Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the U. S. Capitol to challenge violence, especially the epidemic of gun violence that claims so many thousands of American lives each year.Read the full release.

Many of the bishops participating in the event are part of Episcopalians Against Gun Violence, an ad hoc group of bishops, clergy and lay people of Episcopalians who are working, collectively and individually, to curb gun violence.

I am fortunate to have the opportunity to join in this especially meaningful liturgy and am grateful to the Diocese of Connecticut for sharing this Stations of the Cross service with the wider church. You can find it online here.

Please join me this Holy Week in lifting up prayers for those impacted by gun violence and for our policymakers as they pursue peace.

By now you have probably seen Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s Call to Action on gun violence. If not, you will find it on the Episcopal Generations blog.

In her statement, the Presiding Bishop asks members of the United States Episcopal Church to spread this message by all means of communication – social media, word-of-mouth, church announcements, email, and the good old fashioned phone call to members of Congress. (Find out who your member of Congress is here.)

As an Episcopalian committed in baptism to seeking justice and peace and promoting the dignity of every human being, I commit to being part of the solution to the violence in our culture that claimed the lives of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School and that claims the lives of 2000 innocent children through gun crimes each year. I commit to the pursuit of laws that keep guns out of the hands of criminals, prioritize the needs of at-risk children, provide care for mental illness, and address the many ways in which our culture both celebrates and trivializes violence. I commit to holding my lawmakers, my community, and my own household accountable. I commit to accomplishing these things in 2013. I commit to being the change we need.

Whether you’re a layperson, a deacon, a priest, or a bishop, there’s a role for you in breaking the cycle of gun violence.